LaserDiscs?

[BrianP]

Does any manufacturer still make LaserDisc players? Where is a good place to find one (new or used)? How much do they go for?

Just wonderin... it occurred to me that the only place I will ever see the unadulterated version of the original Star Wars trilogy would be on the box set LaserDisc edition that came out several years ago. (Don't care for all this Special Edition nonsense)

[Prospero]

You can find them on ebay all the time, including the starwars disks. Only problem is they are starting to hit the age that laser rot will set in. I'm starting a project to archive my LDs that arent on DVD to the format myself. It's the only way I'm going to see them on DVD.

[xortam]

Prospero ... do you have any references which document cases of laser rot? I have a small/med collection (< 100 movies) including a number of Criterion sets. I stopped purchasing discs after I had my BUD satellite installed. I hadn't considered laser rot to be a problem yet but perhaps I need to investigate and do some archiving myself.

[BrianP]

I'm guessing there is a decent demand for the LD editions of SW since those are probably the only better-than-VHS versions that exist that won't be "Special Edition"-ed.

If someone would "archive" those to DVD (and keep under the radar of Darth Lucas' lawyers) there could be a lot of demand for them.

[xortam]

I didn't think I had any SW discs but I just checked and I have a CBS Fox "Return of the Jedi." Some day I'll have to pick up some video capture HW. I've got a huge list of video HW that's waiting to be purchased (come on NASDAQ ).

[Prospero]

Prospero ... do you have any references which document cases of laser rot? I have a small/med collection (< 100 movies) including a number of Criterion sets. I stopped purchasing discs after I had my BUD satellite installed. I hadn't considered laser rot to be a problem yet but perhaps I need to investigate and do some archiving myself.

Here is one source. Mostly it's just deterieration caused by time and misstorage. Make sure yours are dry, and stored verticle, in a cool place. Most of the info I've seen previously, says rot starts at ten years or so. What I've found today in looking, doesn't list a time frame.

[xortam]

Most of my discs are 10-14 years old. They've been kept upright, vertical, and in "ziploc" vinyl covers. I've even got a couple movies that are still shrink-wrapped. (seen the movie but not my copy of it). The movies don't get played much except a couple demo discs. What does the rot look like; speckles of missing coating?

P.S. I suppose the rot on LDs look like the DVD photos on the http://www.mindspring.com/~yerington/ site. I understood the LDs had a lifetime warranty so they can be replaced. I wonder how long the inventories would still be available?

[xortam]

O.K. I googled "laser rot" and see that there are many references to this problem. I guess its time that I start investigating this and looking into remedies. Here's one picure of laser rot: http://www.starlaser.com/laserrot.htm .

[zeb7]

The SW DVD's have already been done on bootleg dvd's
I've see them and the picture quality is like watching LD trough a 10meter's of cheap video cable .

my VHS copy's are sharper

[Marshmallowman]

I got the impression "laser Rot" is caused by the actual laser that is used to read the disks, on the older LD players the laser is quite strong and damages the disk. Newer and better quality LD players don't have the problem Because they use lower power lasers

[KuroNeko]

After reading this thread, all I can say is... good grief...

Here I was thinking laserrot fairytales would never pop up again...

alt.video.laserdisc used to be a good place to start. Haven't visited in a long time though. I used to keep a laserrot list, but that too was long abandoned for lack of interest from people.

Facts first. Laserrot is NEVER caused by age. Maybe some defect will pop up caused by age, but no laserrot case sofar has been caused by simple aging. Laserrot is a term used to describe the deterioration (corroding) of the aluminum reflective layer of the discs. A laserdisc is made of 2 acrylic plates, whereon the analog videosignal & analog/digital audio signal is pressed. Next, an aluminum reflection layer is put over this data side, and then both plates are glued together by the data sides. The whole is also covered with a protective laquer, like CDs.

Storage is important but not to be overrated. Very hot and humid climate will cause laserrot to start appearing sooner and deteriorate faster perhaps.

Laserrot is _ALWAYS_ - as in NO exceptions - caused by a manufacturing defect. There have been a series of waves of laserrot throughout the industry. In the eighties, there was a big one. Cause: one component of the glue was contaminated and would start corroding the aluminum reflective layer. Many manufacturers bought this stuff from the same manufacturer, so the problem was wide-spread.

I once contacted 3M about this issue (they made LDs back then) and got a fax back explaining the issue. They also stated that they then switched to a glue component that was approved for medical use and was therefor guaranteed more pure. Other manufacturers no doubt have followed suit.

Some manufacturers had somewhat of a less good history of rot, like Kuraray and Mitsubishi in Japan. I own discs from both and they have no issues. They may have fixed their problems after the big problem at the end of the 80s like 3M. Good reputation companies were Pioneer, 3M (after 80s) and a few others.

Still having an extremely bad reputation is Sony DADC USA and Austria, who made many discs for the US and European markets. Horrible rot record, and they never fixed the problem.

Note that any manufacturing problem allowing moisture or contaminants to get to the aluminum layer will cause rot. Either by using contaminated components, or having a contamination spot in the production line.

If moisture gets in between the 2 disc halves lateron, it's caused by using subpar glue and laquer.

Keep in mind that the laserdisc was developed for the US military, to store documents and information for the very long term, and resistant to EMP of a nuclear assault. These discs were built to last a _very_ long time, but for consumer use, some companies thought a few years was obviously enough.

If your discs are stored properly and are over 10 years old, chances that they will ever rot are extremely slim.

Neko

PS: identification of LD manufacturers from the stamper numbers on the disc inner ring can be found on the net. Somewhere, haven't needed it in a while now. Try searching for Bob Niland's laserdisc faqs

[xortam]

Thanks for the confirmation KuroNeko ... this agrees with what I read after doing some searching. I was trying to find if there's been any updates since when this information was written but I haven't run across any new warnings. Some interesting links I found were:
Section 11.2 of the 'Leopold' FAQ and "How to return discs to Pioneer LDCA".

I guess nobody checked out my link to the picture of laser rot.